fireEscape
by OyaSUMi-heart
Summary: Laven Week Contribution Two boys on a New York City rooftop, feet dangling with feared anticipation, eyes constantly looking through the black metal vines of countless fire escapes counting what's left of worth. Angsty.


­­Hiya guys. I was in the city and in a bad mood. So I stared out the window and saw a lot of fire escapes (you know, the nice ones around Soho).

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man.

This is my contribution for Laven week!! I'm sorry I didn't follow the themes and the days... and basically all of Laven week ; A ;

Very very sorry!! Sorry, Sorry....... (heheh, been obsessed with K-Pop lately). But yes, I wanted to give at least one thing to Laven week so I'm giving in this story I started a while back. It's going to be multi-chap. I felt bad for not participating in Laven Week. So here it is!

Wants to say thanks to my wonderful beta-reader: Shade of Euphoria ^^ thankyou!

Now, on with the late contribution towards Laven week! :'D

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_Fine scarlet vines twisting down the drain to be washed away by these tears void of emotion or perhaps, filled with rugged emptiness._

A dull green eye stared at the common white porcelain sink with bitter reminiscence. He turned his wrists to wash the remaining suds off. Across the once smooth and lighter inner side of the skin lay memories. On those wrists were intricately laced, faded scar-ribbons.

"What? There's a kid up on the roof??" hollered a shrill voice from the floor below. Lavi awoke from his trance of memories as his ears perked at the words 'up on the roof.' Flashbacks of certain times flickered blindingly at those four words, if you would, an extreme case of déjà vu.

"_Pain. Bruises. Alcohol. Cuts. Drugs. Tears. Insomnia. Acrimony. All alone. The quintessence of detestation for this world; _my life._" _ he remembered as dripping hands turned off the faucet.

Lavi turned around and walked out of the cramped bathroom of his small but so damn expensive New York City studio. Listening for more information, the 18 year old heard the house wives in the level below bustling about and screeching with as much panic as a chicken with its' head freshly cut off. "Are you sure that's a boy? His hair is starch white!" questioned gossiper one. "I am positive it's a boy. I was coming back from the market and I looked up and saw a youthful, and not to mention pretty, face. It could have been the face of a girl, so slender and—" babbled gossiper two before she stopped. "Really?! Oh my... but really, what is he thinking? It's dangerous up there. It's so silly. All teenagers think about now is sex and killing themselves. Ridiculous. Oh yes, by the way, I've called the police already they should be here soon to get the boy." Interrupted gossiper one. "Ah, that's good—" began the alternate gossiping house wife.

Lavi stopped his eavesdropping and promptly returned to his kitchen to continue the meal he was in the middle of cooking. _"What does it matter to me?"_ wondered the redhead as he took up the fresh stalk of leek and placed it neatly on the wooden cutting board. _"If the kid wants to die, don't try to stop him." _ Lavi continued to think to himself while plainly cutting the remaining ingredients and dumping them into certain bowls. "No one was there to stop me..." he muttered as his hands stopped moving after placing the knife down.

"No one bothered to stop me, no one cared."

Wiping calloused hands on his jeans, Lavi walked over slowly to his window and paused the music that was playing softly in the background on the way. Across the mostly empty space of the main room, he rested his arms on the ledge of the opening latch of the tall window and looked out. Down in the streets was a small gather of people lined up on the sidewalks gawking at the boy who was supposedly sitting on the roof above his head. The 18 year old sighed as he thought back to his own attempt.

"My attempt," he laughed bitterly, "lonely and mocking sums it up."

The metal button fastener of the leather bracelet cuff shifted down Lavi's arm making chills roll down his spine.

"And cold... it was cold, May."

Glancing up, the teen only saw the ledge above his window, not the roof of the building. _"Jeez, is there really a kid up there?"_  
Peering in front, Lavi saw the infinite plain of grey stretching out its extremities to the maximum, covering every tiny crevice in the sky. But looking harder, there was one spot the darkness simply could not suffocate. In the far end near the vanishing point was a fragment of light poking out, as if to say, _"There's hope."_

Solidifying his resolution, Lavi unlatched the window to step out and relive his past... but from a different perspective this time; a perspective or role that he wished anyone had taken up for him.

"What's with all the people? Do they want my body for a new display at the Body Museum in South Street Seaport?" muttered the white haired boy who sat there on the edge of the roof, feet dangling. He glared down at the tiny forming mob below, perhaps hoping to pierce through them with grey-silver eyes.

"Don't waste your time glaring; they won't be able to see your pretty eyes anyway."

A mess of red hair followed by arms and legs slowly began to make its way out of the window below the boy's feet. Soon, in front of the white haired boy stood a easy-going looking boy wearing beat up green converses, faded paint splattered jeans, metal stud belt, regular t-shirt, leather bracelet, and an eye patch. However, his stop sign red hair not only stood out in sharp contrast against the previous slate coloured world, the ordinary cuff he wore for some peculiar reason especially caught the eye of the observational and suicidal boy.

Incredulous that a man just suddenly climbed out of a window at the top of a building, the 15 year old sat there and stared wordlessly. Lavi leaned back comfortably against the ornate black railing of the fire escape and looked up to roof of the apartment.

"Hey."

A four-leaf-clover green eye stared the teenager right into the eyes and through his thoughts. The boy sat there staring at the head of orange hair feeling that he was slightly different from other people but he couldn't help but think that there was no one, at least in this city, who would just simply understand. _"He's just going to tell me 'don't jump' or 'come down from there' like the rest of them. There's nothing different about him, he's just another shitty human." _ The younger boy helplessly thought though he had a gut instinct which told him that this eye-patch teen casually leaning on the fire escape of a god knows how high apartment building in front of a boy who was about to jump— he's different.

"How about you don't jump and come down from there?"

"_Guess my gut feeling was wrong." _ thought the boy with disappointment.

The older teen laughed softly and said, "That's what you thought I'd tell you like the billion other ordinary people in the world, right? I'm just joking. I'm gonna sit too, my legs are getting tired." Lavi knew what it was like up there. He had a pretty damn good guess as to what the boy's thoughts were along the line of. And so, the 18 year old carefully yet agilely stepped his way up the redbrick side and pulled up onto the roof.

Settling down onto the hard concrete ledge of the building, the red head copied the younger boy and dangled his legs over the edge. He leaned back onto his arms to support most of his body weight and asked, "I'm Lavi, you?"

He was different. Indefinitely, this Lavi person was different from the rest.

"What are you doing?" asked the boy as he looked over to the man next to him. Without a worded reply, the eye-patched boy turned his head to look at Allen and simply threw him a small, carefree, and goofy smile. "Shouldn't I be asking you what _you're _doing?"

"I'm jumping."

"_Blatant answer."_ thought Lavi as he turned back to face the endless sky. Drawing one knee up, he cushioned it with his hands and rested his chin on top, still staring into the grey sky. "That's nice and all," the elder one remarked lightly, "but from here you would wind up no where except the hospital, paralyzed and confined in a wheelchair for the remainder of your life." he ended on a slightly more serious tone. Continuing to look into the nostalgic sky, it was déjà vu with an addition. "But hey, in the end, it's your choice."

"_This isn't my escape? __**Damn it.**__I was so sure though... I was so sure that this could be it, my last night. Damn it.." _ wondered the younger boy now, his mind in a whirl of confusion and disbelief. Gripping the edge of the concrete at the thought of having to sit through the rest of life just watching, not even having the ability to take away his life at his own will, he began to faintly shake as his imagination continued its' course of horror.

_Pain\Stares\Inability\Helplessness\Uselessness|Purposeless\Worthless\Alone_

"No . . ." he breathed almost soundlessly, "No, _please. . . _No?" the boy felt himself drain of everything as his head hung down and eyes widened a bit in fear. Looking down he saw the tiny group of people on the ground gossiping through the countless levels of fire escapes. A 'raindrop' fell down and dripped from the tip of his nose.

Lavi glanced over to see what the boy sitting next to him murmured. Smiling sadly with a look of understanding on his face, the elder of the two turned to his left to fully face the younger boy who now lost all previous bitterness to soft trembling. Gently, Lavi said to the boy who had shrunken in size and looked as fragile as a heart, "No," he paused and looked thoughtfully at him, "Would you like to come with me somewhere?"

More tears dripped erratically onto the younger's lap. He had heard what the boy next to him had said and secretly wanted to leave this ledge quite desperately. Frankly, he was scared out of his wits and could not bear to move an inch in fright that he might accidentally slip down to a paralytic life. The boy's mind was blank, just pure terror coursed through his blood vessels as though it were an adrenaline itself. "...Don't...wa...want," he breathed softer than a whisper.

"_The hysterics are about to come. I hope he doesn't fall from realizing it all of a sudden." _ Lavi thought as he steadied himself just incase the mysterious white haired boy next to him snapped and lost his balance off of the building.

Now, he shook slightly harder than before. The boy's back curled in more as he shrunk into himself drawing his shoulders, elbows, and head inwards. _"He looks so fragile, like if the wind blew a little stronger; he'd break." _ The redhead thought as he just watched the boy with a soft but pained expression. _"He reminds me of, me." _

"I don't want to."

Surprised, Lavi looked harder at the boy. _"He's still shaking hard, but his voice is strong. But what does he mean he doesn't want to? He doesn't want to come with me?"_ Markedly slow, the elder boy reached over and lightly placed a warm, comforting hand on the younger's knee. Not seeing the slightest flinch, Lavi softly patted and squeezed the boy's knee as a sign of understanding and encouragement for him to continue to say what he was thinking.

"I don't want to die today. I don't want to, I don't!" rang out a voice that was faintly harsh but strong with the sound of life.

Lavi smiled. _"This kid's pretty unique." _ He thought as his hand patted the boy's still shaking knee. Gradually, Lavi lifted his hand up and to the other boy's cheek. The base of his palm supported the younger's chin as the rest of his hand rounded up the side of his face. With patience, Lavi turned the small face to the right to face him, careful not to change his placid expression suddenly. "It's okay, let's go."

Silver-grey eyes, slightly swollen with sadness, stared at Lavi with incoherency but a hard trust. Lavi just simply smiled once again. He stood up, looking intently far into the stretch of sky with a desire to remember every minute detail of this memorable day. While looking around, memorizing his surroundings for future reference in his memories, Lavi held his hand out by his side and softly said with a natural and calming tone, "Let's go."

The boy, with a sliver of a smile on his face, succumbed to the gentle coax and left hand-in-hand with the red-haired stranger.

DUDE. WHY IS THIS SO FRIGGIN SHORT? It took up six pages on Word!! Mannnnn, ugh. I was trying to work on length too. This is depressing. Well, this is it. This is irritating, aggravating, PISSIN' ME OFF.

Anyways, my contrib. Sorry it's so late again.

Review to lessen my aggravation? =_=

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